Originally Posted by
Galbraith
Ultimately, most of the mid-higher end modern 9mm makes and models out there from the major manufacturers will be reliable and durable enough for you to not be overly concerned for your usage. I would still recommend a full sized pistol as they tend to be easier to shoot quickly, shoot accurately, they are less prone to shooter induced malfunctions like limp wristing, and they tend to have greater longevity and durability.
One thing you definitely want to get into is shooting some drills that will improve your skill. There are a number of printable targets and drill descriptions in the training section of this forum. Adding a shot timer to your training routine would be great, as it will greatly improve your speed in all aspects of shooting......from draw time, follow-up shot speed, reload speed,....etc. Another nice training aid for those that can't get to the gun range or shoot up a lot of ammo are laser training cartridges. With a cleaned and oiled barrel, they fall into the chamber of the pistol and rubber o-rings give it a snug fit. The cartridge fires a laser pulse every time you pull the trigger and the laser hits to the point of aim of the barrel and sights. It gives you instant feed-back as to whether your grip/trigger is off and allows you to quickly adapt to your operator errors, and correct it. With a laser training cartridge I find that my students can more quickly get their grip and trigger control where it needs to be faster than actually shooting live ammo.
As far as mag capacity limits go, don't sweat it. I used single stack .45s(duty) and 9mms(off duty) for years and would not feel undergunned today given the right training routine and acquired skill. I still carry a 10+1 .45acp and shoot better than most other shooters that I encounter who are using high capacity long slide 9mms. The key is to have extra mags readily accessible and set up your courses of fire during training to make constant reloads.